The sophomore joins Lisa Leslie and Cheryl Miller as Trojan winners of the prestigious award.
USC guard JuJu Watkins has earned her place among women’s basketball legends, selected today as the 2025 Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy winner in her sophomore campaign with the Women of Troy. Watkins is now the third USC player to earn the award since its establishment for women in 1984. Cheryl Miller was a three-time Naismith Trophy recipient, having also won her first as a sophomore at USC, and Lisa Leslie was the 1994 winner as a senior at USC.
Watkins, who sustained a season-ending injury on March 24 in the NCAA Second Round, has also been named the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year by the USBWA and is one of four finalists for the Wade Trophy, which Miller won in 1985. A finalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, Watkins recently was named to the John R. Wooden Award All-America Team and is also one of five players in the running for the Wooden Award.
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Already named the National Player of the Year by The Athletic and Sporting News as well as an All-America First Team pick by the AP, USBWA and Sporting News, Watkins went big in the seven games she played against AP top-10 opponents this season in particular. Watkins posted her 20th career 30-point game to help propel her Trojans to an 80-67 win over rival No. 2 UCLA to claim the Big Ten regular-season championship. The Big Ten Player of the Year, Watkins is averaging 26.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting 35.4 percent from 3-point range against top-10 opponents. That’s better than her overall and also impressive season averages of 23.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.2 steals and 1.8 blocks per game in USC’s push to a 30-3 overall record and a trip to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Also this year, Watkins became the first basketball player at the Division I collegiate, WNBA and NBA levels since 2000 to score 38 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks and five assists in a single game with her work for the Women of Troy their win over then-No. 1 UCLA at Galen Center.
In the USC record books, Watkins ranks No. 9 all-time in career scoring with 1,709 points — having become the fastest Trojan to score 1,000 career points in program history earlier this season — and with the second-most 30-point games by a Trojan. With 38 points and 30 points vs. USC rival UCLA this season, Watkins now has 21 career 30-point games — four shy of Cheryl Miller’s career record of 25.
This is Watkins’ second season on the AP, Sporting News and USBWA All-America First Teams as well as the Wooden All-America Team. A Sullivan Award semifinalist, Watkins also is a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award, which is given annually to a player who exemplifies the skills that Dawn possessed throughout her career, ball handling, scoring, her ability to distribute the basketball and her will to win.
Earlier this season, Watkins collected AP Preseason All-America status as well as numerous USBWA Drysdale Player of the Week, AP National Player of the Week and Big Ten Player of the Week selections.
The sophomore joins an exclusive list of 10 women who have won the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy at the collegiate and prep levels. The others include Tamika Catchings (Tennessee), Paige Bueckers (UConn), Chamique Holdsclaw (Tennessee), Lisa Leslie (USC), Maya Moore (UConn), Candace Parker (Tennessee), Diana Taurasi (UConn), Breanna Stewart (UConn) and A’ja Wilson (South Carolina).
The other finalists for the 2025 Naismith Trophy were Lauren Betts (UCLA), Paige Bueckers (UConn) and Hannah Hildalgo (Notre Dame).
JERSEY MIKE’S NAISMITH PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Watkins was chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, comprised of leading media members from around the country, current and former head coaches, former award winners and conference commissioners, all of whom based their selections on outstanding on-court performances during the 2024-25 college basketball season. Additionally, fans had the opportunity to cast a ballot through naismithfanvote.com and on the @NaismithTrophy, NCAA @MarchMadnessMBB and @MarchMadnessWBB Twitter pages, which accounted for 5% of the overall vote. The vote was tabulated and verified by the Forensic Accounting team of iDiscovery Solutions, Inc., a consultative experts firm. The Player of the Year winner will be awarded the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy, produced and provided by Herff Jones, a leading provider of graduation and educational products and services designed to inspire achievement and create memorable experiences for students. Herff Jones will donate a replica trophy to the player’s university.
Watkins was chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, comprised of leading media members from around the country, current and former head coaches, former award winners and conference commissioners, all of whom based their selections on outstanding on-court performances during the 2024-25 college basketball season. Additionally, fans had the opportunity to cast a ballot through naismithfanvote.com and on the @NaismithTrophy, NCAA @MarchMadnessMBB and @MarchMadnessWBB Twitter pages, which accounted for 5% of the overall vote. The vote was tabulated and verified by the Forensic Accounting team of iDiscovery Solutions, Inc., a consultative experts firm. The Player of the Year winner will be awarded the Jersey Mike’s Naismith Trophy, produced and provided by Herff Jones, a leading provider of graduation and educational products and services designed to inspire achievement and create memorable experiences for students. Herff Jones will donate a replica trophy to the player’s university.
